Joint-fastening.



J. W. HAWKINS.

JOINT FASTENING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1911.

1,G3,08. Patented June 18, L212.

JOHN W. HAW'KINS, 01f PORTLAND, OREGON.

JOINT-FASTENING.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented June 18, 1912.

Application filed May 31, 1911- Serial No. 630,534.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHN W. HAV/KINS, a citizen of the United States residing at Portland in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Joint-Fastenings, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to joints for securing together the abutting ends of railroad rails, and has for lts objectthe provision of a device of this type wherein the necessity for forming apertures in the rail ends is avoided, and in which the tightness of the joint shall increase with the weight and. strain placed thereupon; the provision of a rail joint wherein a close equilibrium of strains shall be maintained among the diilerent members and in which the smallest amount of deterioration with use shall be experienced; the provision of a joint in which the rails shall be entirely free to expand and contract with changes intemperature, in which the'passage of a wheel from one rail to the other shall take place with the least possible noise and shock, and in which the rail must be elevated bodily in order to permit the dismounting of the joint members.

Still other objects are the elimination of threaded means as a direct reliance for the securing together of the rail ends and the forming a part hereof, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a rail joint made in accordance with my invention and illustrating the method of securing the same to the ties, one of the rails being broken off adjacent the end of the joint;

Fig. 2 is an end view of said joint showing the broken end of said rail; Fig. 3 is a top plan View of a portion of one of the wedge plates; Fig. i a top plan view of a portion of one of the master plates; Fig. 5 a top plan view of a portion of the rail showing the elongai'ed'nol'ch in the base flange thereof; Figjt a top plan view of a portion of .cent ties and at 2-2 the ends of two engage the surface 6 of the rail head.

the bed plate; and Fig. 7 a perspective view of one of the bolts.

In order to be practical it is imperative that a rail joint be of a nature to be employed with rails of standard form and size so as to be applicable to existing conditions, since any joint which depended upon a total change in the rail design would inevitably fail of adoption. I have, therefore, illustrated my rail joint in connection with a rail of standard form and specifications, which rail consists of a flat head 3 connected by a vertical web 4 with a comparatively wide, fiat base 5', the under side of the head and the upper surface of the base flange being flared away ,froin each other at each side of the webQas indicated at 6 and 7., respectively.

- At ll I have indicated a pairof adjaabutting lengths of rail of the kind described.

These rail ends are supported upon a bed plate 8 having adjacent each of its sides an upwardly extending rib 9 and having outside each of said ribs the laterally pro- 'jecting flange 10 adapted to be engaged by maintaining the plate in place upon the ties.

the usual spikes for The inner walls of the ribs 9-9 are inclined outwardly, as shown at 12, and the total distance between said ribs is preferably made somewhat greater than the width of the base 5 of the rail, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. This construction provides a :bed plate or chair having a rail receiving channel on its upper face. Mounted upon each side of the rail within the limits of the base plate is a master plate 13, the same comprising a substantially vertical web 14 adapted to substantially parallel the web 4 of the rail and having at its lower edge an outwardly and downwardly flared flange 15 adapted to rest evenly upon the surface 7 and hav ing at its top a similar flange 16 shaped to The flange 15 extends laterally farther than the rail base 5 and is formed with a beveled surface 17 inclined oppositely to the surface 12 of the rib 9 from which it is separated by a narrow spacev The outer face of the web 14 is formed with a horizontal recess 18 having its upper Wall 19 inclined upwardly at an angle intermediate between the angles of the surfaces 6 and 12. Outside of this master plate placed the wedge plate the upper edge or the flanges i, complementnrily to the surtace 19. The

lower portion of the flange is SPLll'iCtl away from the bottom ot the recess 18, and the lower portion oi the web i-l ot the master plate lil'e spaced away from the Web of the oil. inasmuch. as the two sides of the joints are absolutely identical it is thought that the detailed description of one will suilice for both. A

in. order to permit. the application of the bolts thereto, the wedge plates 2!) are formed with perforations 30 in their horizontal webs, the master plates ill are termed vith laterally (,XlQIlt'lGCl notches 31 in their flanges 15, the sides of the rail base are formed with lruigitudinully extending notches 32, and the has of the bed plate formed with elongated slots 33. A hell. of the form shown in if '7' is preferably employed, having a flattened elongated head 34 adopted to be passed through the slot 33 from above and turned throuph an angle of ninety degrees to prevent disconnection therefrom, a squared portion 35 immediately above the head and adapt-3d to be nonrotatably received in the slot 33, and :1 cylindrical shank Elli tirovidcd with threads 3'? adapted to receive a nut "lhe notch in the rail base made elongated in order to accommodate the expansion and contraction of the rail, and the notches 31. in the master plates are extended laterally in order to permit the lateral movement of these plates to he described hereafter.

In order to assemble this joint the bed plates 8 are first placed upon theties, the rail ends placed. therein and the bolts-inserted in the slots 33. 'lheinaster plates 13 can now be applied thereto Without. hindrance, but. in order to insert the Wedge plates 20 it will be necessary to raise both rail ends and master plates inasmuch the surfaces 12 and 10 are convergent. The

.total Width of the wedge plate 20 is so chosen that the surfaces of the flanges will Contact as closely .as possible with all three surfaces at the same time. The ends or the rails are here shown as cut at an angle since this is the preferred method of abutting the two, but it is obvious that such a formation is not necessary to the practice of my invention.

Even though the bolts be omitted it Will be seen that a completely operative joint is formed inasmuch as the joint can be dis mounted only by raising the rail ends, and the weight of a; wheel upon the rails will tend to force the parts together with added Iiiriuncss. Ellis is particularly true in case the vidth of thewedge plates 20 be so adjustedes to preventthe complete seating of the rail, since in this case the downward pressure upon the flanges 16 of the master lntes will he supported by the flanges 23 of the Wedge plates, and it is impossible for this pressure to occasion an outward crowding oi? the Wedge plate-s because of the convergence of the surfaces 12 and 19. Neither the inward crowding elfv these flanges possible because of'rhe factthat. the 'upper edges thereof are seated against'the bottoms of the recesses 18. The only res maining possible motions are downward and outward movements of the flanges 22 which are prevented by the surfaceslQ and l7. It is therefore obvious that the tendency of on increased Weight upon the rail will be to lock all the parts more firmly in their assembled position. The bolts,however, have a two-fold object, first in that they prevent the oyerturning of the rail, which might otherwise be possible, and second, in that they can be tightenend up so as to partially raise or tend to raise the rail away from the bed plate, thus rendering unnecessary the exact: adjustrnei'llroi the width of the Wedge plates. The affect of the bolts in preventing overturning Will. be obvious, but the effect of the some in raising the rail is not so clear. It Will be noted that {t8 the nuts are tightened the most obvious etlectwill he to wedge the flange 22 more and more firmly between the surfaces 12 and 17. The effect of such Wedging will he to shift the flange 15 of the master plates toward the Web .1-, of the rail, thus tending to rotate the. flange 16 thereof like a hell crank lever and cause it to press upwardly beneath the head 3. In other W0rds,the downward movement of the flange 22 is converted into n sidowisemovement of the flange 15, which is converted into an upward and inward movcment of the Web 14, which is converted into an upward and outward movement of the flange 16, which is prevented by the surface 6 ofthe head and the surlfncc 19 of the flange 23, the net result being it \vedging apart of the surfaces 6 and 19.

It will be seen that the bolts arenot used for directly securing together the ends of the rails but merely to prevent the displace ment of the securing parts and to produce a ivcdging action between certaino l said securing parts so as to increase t-lie'firmness of their contact; Furthermore, the necessity for perforating the rail Web has been avoided and the consequentweakening of the rail eliminated while the ends of adjacent rails are left comparatively tree to move relatively under lhe influence of temperature changes. Furthermore, all the parts of my improved joint are such as can readily 'be parting from the 7 upper parts of said wedge members bein of the rail hea manufactured by esses of forging or rolling and ceptible of ch ters of detail might be made without. de-

seope of my and I do not propose to be limited details excepting as th tively to such be rendered necessary by the prior state of the art.

Having thus described my'invention, what claim is: 1.' A joint for T rails comprising, in combination, a bed plate having a longitudinal channel adapted to receive the ends of adlower sides of the hen plates the ends of said rails at and spaced from the sides of said channel, and wedge members interposed between said plates and the sides of said channel, the

the side of the web upper parts of saidwedge members being 'raced against the 1 wer side of the rail.

3. A joint for T rails comprising, in combination, abe'd plate having a longitudinal channel on its upper face adapted to receive the abutting ends of adjacent rails, the sides of said railsot the side of the Web and angle to the vertical than the bottom of the rail head, plates adapted to overlap the ends of said rails at theiside of the web and spaced from the sides of upper edges of'said plates b ment with the of the head emg in engageupper part of said wedge members being in engagement with the sides of said plates.

invention,

included in the claims hereto annexed said side 1 bottom of the rail head and wedge members interposed between said plates and the sides of said channel, the- 4. A joint for T rails comprising, in comination, a bed plate having a longitudinal channel.

of sai plates having longitudinal recesses therein, and wedge members interposed between said plates sides of said chanthe upper parts of said eing braced against the upper walls of said recesses.

5. joint for T rails, comprising, in combination, a bed plate having a longitudinal channel on its upper face adapted to receive raced against said abutments.

6. joint for T-rails comprising the combination, with the imperforate abutting ends 0 ad acent rails, of plates on each the head to the'base of the rail adjacent to the railweb, and the other plate being interlocked with the upper part of said first plate and extending downwardly adjacent thereto,,and a supporting or base member beneath a the ends of said rails and having at each side an abutment between which and the ad: jacent first plate said second plate is interosed. v j p In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN W. HAWKINS.

Witnesses I HowAnn B.

ALLEN, ELmo'rr R.

VVILLIs'rON. 

